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Aug 13, 2013

Our Grand Inquisitor says you can’t have treatment

Are states using targeted auditing to disrupt mental health services?

New Mexico used a recent audit to completely de-fund 15 mental health providers serving the bulk of the state’s publicly funded mental health care. Some 30,000 individuals have had their care interrupted. A number of for-profit and nonprofit providers are closing because they cannot maintain operations while fighting the proposed findings.

Although the state’s actions are authorized by law, they were not mandatory.

There’s no public access to the allegations within the audits. The audit findings are secret.

Similar events are playing out in North Carolina. According to newspaper reports, a 2012 Public Consulting Group audit that cost North Carolina $3.2 million found that North Carolina had overpaid behavioral health providers by $38.5 million, but the state found that less than 10% of the amount in question could be recovered.

About Paul Komarek

Paul Komarek is an author and consultant with a comeback story. After bipolar disorder wiped out his legal career, Paul rebuilt his life around his strengths as a writer, teacher and policy expert. He works on tough social issues, including criminal justice reform, education of children with disabilities, violence prevention, addiction treatment, and health care for the poor. Paul’s book Defying Mental Illness, Finding Recovery with Community Resources and Family Support (ISBN 978-1494786441) is the first book for general audiences to focus on mental health recovery, not how to have your disease. He is working on two blog projects. Redesigning Mental Illness focuses on what ordinary people can do to fundamentally change how mental illness plays out in America. Grassroots Educator focuses on teachers in community settings, the ones who never issue report cards.